Madrid Cardinal says anonymous saints are builders of true progress

Madrid, Spain, Nov 3, 2004 / 22:00 pm

During his weekly address, the Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Maria Rouco Varela, said the anonymous saints of today “are the authentic builders of what can truly be called progress in today’s Spanish society.”

During the celebration of the Feast of All Saints, the Cardinal recalled that on this day we remember “a vast multitude of the elect from every race, language and nation already rejoicing in the glory of Jesus Christ,” because they faithfully fulfilled His law.

“The saints,” he continued, “constitute the most living and real proof of the truth of the Church in her walk through history, intertwined with the history of man in all of the dimensions in which he is immersed: from that of his most intimate and personal life to his most public, social and political fulfillment.”

Referring to the saints of today, Cardinal Rouco explained that “we stumble upon them all the time, in every corner of the Church,” in our communities, parishes and even in our families.

The saints are “the answer to today’s challenges,” he added, which are dominated by ways of thinking that influence the highest levels of society, in an attempt to establish a vision of mankind devoid of God and the history of salvation.

Lastly, he said the III Diocesan Synod of Madrid would be an effort to follow the call of Pope John Paul II to foster holiness, “the greatest need for the evangelization of the Third Millennium.”